National Child Safety Council

The National Child Safety Council(NCSC) founded in 1955, has worked 58 years towards keeping children safe. According to the National Child Safety Council (NCSC) website, “in 1955, after learning that more children die in the U.S. by accidents than all the communicable diseases combined, a nonprofit organization named Police Safety Service was formed.” The goal of this organization was to talk to school officials, local emergency personnel and law enforcement to put into place a program to educate parents and children on accident prevention.

Yet, that was just the beginning of the National Child Safety Council (NCSC) and the work they would do to make the world a safer place for children of all ages.
The Police Safety Service evolved into the Child Safety Council, before it became the National Child Safety Council (NCSC), which is “the oldest and largest 501(c) (3) federal tax-exempt, nonprofit charitable organization entirely dedicated to the safety of children.” The work of that the NCSC does is supported by law enforcement and through the donations of companies nationwide and with their own research and development department, the NCSC provides up to date information on all aspects of child safety.

In December of 1984, the National Child Safety Council (NCSC) implemented their “missing children milk carton program” and Etan Patz was one of the first missing children featured. The “missing children milk carton program” features pictures of America’s missing or abducted children on the sides of milk cartons across the nation and into the homes of millions of Americans, and the National Child Safety Council (NCSC) website praises the milk carton approach as one of their most successful programs.

With the success of the “missing children milk carton program”, the NCSC worked to continue to focus on missing children and quickly initiated the “Safety Pup Milk Carton Safety Tip Program”. Safety pup, which is the NCSC’s official mascot, appears on milk cartons provided to millions of children through their school lunch programs. The Safety Pup focused on teaching children practical tips on avoiding abduction and not allowing a stranger to trick them into going with them.

During this time according to the NCSC website, telephone companies approached the organization, leading to the phone book initiative called the “National Child Watch Campaign.” The National Child Watch Campaign is “a cooperative program coordinated by NCSC and supported by the American Gas Association (AGA) involving approximately 140 gas, electric, and telephone utilities around the country.” The program provided utility companies with flyers appropriately sized for placement inside of utility bills then sent out to customers at the end of each month.

To learn more about their safety programs please visit the NCSC website at www.nationalchildsafetycouncil.org.